A close friend of mine was into three bands and three bands only back in 1985: Pink Floyd, R.E.M. and Steely Dan. As a result of his generous borrowing policy, I never bought more than one album by those three bands until 1986. (My own own lending policy can be summed up in one word: NEVER!) Greatest Hits was my first Steely Dan album though I had dubbed all of their previous albums onto tape.
Never in a million years did it occur to me to make a greatest hits compilation of their music - I never really listened to the tapes that much if at all and to be honest, I was kind of forced to borrow the albums. It was a lot like that scene in High Fidelity where Barry (Jack Black) consoles a customer: "Don't tell anyone you don't own Blonde on Blonde. It's gonna be okay." The guy was like "You don't have any Steely Dan? Here take these, you'll be alright." But it wasn't until I was in Loco Records one night in 1982 that I heard "Do It Again" immediately followed by "Reelin' In The Years" that it dawned on me that two of my favorite songs were by Steely Dan. I broke the tapes out and began listening to them, getting deeper into the groove late at night with my (Dad's) trusty headphones on. Technically, he wasn't using them anymore so I borrowed them. But I gave them back within a couple of years when I got my own decent set of cans. (Two years ago, my Dad sent me those now vintage headphones of his.)
So one day in 1985, I'm looking through the RCA Music Service catalog, wondering which album I'm going to spend my FREE certificate on and I come across Steely Dan's Greatest Hits - a double album - and something clicked. Filled in the catalog number on the certificate and mailed it in, not even sure if it was going to work on a double album until the box showed up at my door.
There have been other compilations of the band's body of work but this one remains my favorite despite not having any tracks from Gaucho or even the classic "Dirty Work" from their debut. Much like The Who's Hooligans, it hurts me that this album is not sitting on the Vinyl Wall. I have every other Dan comp on CD --- EXCEPT this one though I do have a homebrewed version on CD-R.
The TOTAL TALLY:
records bought: 109
money spent: $578.59
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